Using the workforce shortage to close the inclusion gap

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A qualified and diverse workforce is critical to the competitiveness of our region. There are some big shifts happening right now in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul job market – a widespread labor shortage means many employers are having trouble finding employees. Four years from now, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Regional Workforce Innovation Network projects our region will need to fill 550,000 job openings.

As a region, what are some of the strategies we should deploy to attract and retain skilled workers?

The good news is that the MSP region has a labor participation rate of 71.8 percent and an unemployment rate of just 2.5 percent. The bad news is that the employment gap between the white population and population of color is worsening, growing to 11.3 percent this past year.

One of the challenges our region faces is placing inclusion at the center of creating, attracting and retaining a skilled workforce. Tawanna Black, founder and CEO of the Center for Economic Inclusion, believes that to truly address our workforce shortage challenge, we must include everyone in the solution.

Jonathan Weinhagen

To do this, the public and private sectors need to come together to establish programs and strategies that expand the talent pool. We need to eliminate racial disparities, reduce hiring bias, and fill talent gaps right away. Businesses should set aside preconceived notions of what a “typical” job applicant looks like and help employees learn the skills they need to not only be a part of the workforce, but to be successful and thrive.

Commissioner Shawntera Hardy and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) are working to solve for this by investing in professional development on the entire talent continuum. There are not enough employees to meet the projected demand and we must do a better job getting Minnesotans off the sidelines and into employment, from those just preparing to enter the workforce to those who are on the edge of retirement. Businesses must be intentional about hiring and training so that everyone can participate in the workforce. If we don’t, we will lose our competitive edge.

Another way to attract and retain our future workforce is through the RealTime Talent program, led by Deb Broberg. RealTime Talent focuses on data and engaging people from all sectors to help control the supply and demand of qualified workers. They aggregate millions of job postings into easy-to-use data that helps connect candidates with jobs they may not have known about and that match their specific skills and certifications. Interested candidates don’t need to be from Minnesota to use the service, instead the service acts as a tool to attract new people to our region by showing them the opportunities available if are ready to make the smart choice to relocate to Minneapolis-Saint Paul.

This need can be felt on every level from small businesses all the way up to large corporations. As the state’s fourth largest employer, and the largest health care employer in the state, Fairview Health Services must fill 100 new hires a week. From surgeons to filing clerks, they need to fill positions at every skill level. Laura Beeth, vice president of Talent Acquisition with Fairview knows that hiring no longer takes the traditional format of searching for a candidate with a specific degree or placing an ad in a newspaper. Employers must make a compelling case starting with young people. For Beeth that means starting with programs in middle school and creating others at the secondary and post-secondary levels to remove educational and training barriers. It is important to engage and inspire future employees to consider a variety of career paths – in their case, our health care system needs doctors, nurses, technicians and more.

In this labor market, many employers are finding themselves in a spot unlike anything they’ve encountered in decades. Many business leaders I speak with are eager to hire as the economy continues to perform well and baby boomers move into retirement.

Let’s come together to take advantage of the growth we’re seeing now to create and support programs that will bring more people into the workforce – closing the inclusion gap while strengthening our region for everyone.

Jonathan Weinhagen is the president and CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber. He steers the Chamber’s advocacy priorities to focus on the critical issues facing the MSP region.